ADPT: An active learning method for a Programming Lab Course

This paper describes the active learning method used in a programming lab course in the Computer Science program at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC).

In 2011, the UCSC School of Engineering reformed the curricula of its five engineering programs based on the CDIO initiative [1,2]. Among other issues, the curriculum reform process at UCSC addresses the problem of motivating its first years' students by incorporating first-year courses [3] through the development of activities that familiarize students with their professional role, thus contributing to the adoption of CDIO standards 1, 4 and 8.

As a result of the curricular reform, the first year of the computer science program at UCSC was modified to include a Programming Lab course where teams of students analyse computer science problems and design solutions following a structured approach. Each stage of this process is supported by specific tools and techniques using active learning methods.

ADPT (Analysis, Design, Programming and Testing) is an active learning method based on a PBL approach, composed of the four phases of the classical software development methodology (also called the waterfall method) [4]. This approach includes rigorously ordered stages, where each stage assumes the previous stage has been completed. The main difference between ADPT and a PBL approach is that PBL encourages collaboration within the working team whereas ADPT encourages collaboration with other teams.

In the Programming Lab course, students had to solve four problems using the ADPT method. The results were positive both in relation to the assessment of the results obtained by the student teams as well as students' perception of the ADPT method. Phrases such as “even though problems were a bit complicated because we didn't know all the control structures, we shared ideas, discussed them and solved the problem” show that students recognize the value of teamwork. Moreover, “we really enjoyed associating the car's trajectory to a mathematical function such as sin(x) and cos(x) it was fun!”, shows another way of introducing programming mathematical functions using real cases, and integrating computer programming to their first-year Calculus courses.

The results discussed in this study correspond to students that took the Programming Lab course in the first semester of 2013. Surveys also registered high levels of satisfaction with active learning methods, especially team-work and cooperative learning. These results are consistent with our previous work in 2011 and 2012 [3].

REFERENCES

[1] Crawley, E., et al., “Rethinking Engineering Education: The CDIO Approach”. Springer Sciences + Business Media LLC. New York, 2007. [2] Loyer, S., et al, "A CDIO Approach to Curriculum Design of five Engineering Programs at UCSC", Proceeedings of the 7th International CDIO Conference, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, June 20-23, 2011. [3] Muñoz, M., et al., “Active learning in first-year engineering courses at Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción”. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, Vol 19 No 1. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2013. [4] Pressman, R., “Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach”, 7th. Ed, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2009.

Proceedings of the 10th International CDIO Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-19 2014